Chapter 17: Pool Water Splashing
Chapter Song: Birds by Kat Cunning
"All of these words building a house in my head. Tearing it down, the wreckage is keeping me up and I can't come down."
~
Allison and Jackson were racing once again in the lanes of the pool and there Isabella was sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet dangling in and her head held low. Isabella was still pretty upset about earlier. Don't get her wrong, Isaac really cheered her up, but she still couldn't shake the sadness from her mind. Those pictures really did hurt Isabella, she understood if Scott was trying to get her back, but that wasn't the way to do it.
Isabella sat there in her blue bikini and kicked the water in front of her as Jackson and Allison came back to the side of the pool she was on.
Allison started laughing as she reached the wall and ran a hand through her wet hair to smooth it back and out of her face, " You beat me again."
Jackson laughs as he comes up and shakes his hair to rid some water out of it," I had an unfair advantage." He paused and pointed to his face," See these cheekbones."
Allison gives him a confused look and shook her head. He laughs again and says," Aerodynamically suited for speed in water."
Isabella stifles a laugh and smiles at Jackson. Jackson had really become one of her best friends. Even though she would have hated to admit it in the beginning of the year, she was not ashamed to say it now.
" Anyway..." Allison said grasping the wall, pulling herself out of the water and standing up next to Isabella's sitting figure, " I promised my Aunt Kate I wouldn't be gone too long, so I have to go."
Isabella groaned at the mention of her Aunt and rolled her eyes, " Do you have to?" Isabella whined.
Since she was having such a bad a day, she really wanted to be with the only two friends besides Isaac who had yet to hurt her and now she couldn't even do that because of Kate.
Allison smiled at Isabella sympathetically before squatting down to give her a quick hug. Allison rests her hand on Isabella's shoulder, looking into her eyes, "Yeah I kind of do, but call me tonight, okay? I'll be there...or meet me at the game? Either one works. "
Isabella gave Allison a small smile and nodded her head sadly as Allison walked off, clutching a towel to her body.
Isabella suddenly felt someone grab her hand that was resting on her side. She looked over to see Jackson holding it.
Jackson latched their hands together and said, "Come on Izzy. Get in. You're not gonna let McCall stop you from having a good time, are you?"
Isabella hesitated for a moment, which to Jackson meant that she didn't want to come in. This resulted in Jackson grabbing her other hand and pulling Isabella into his chest. It effectively brought her into the pool with him.
Isabella landed with a splash as Jackson pulled her to him. Jackson held her body next to himself in the water. As soon as Isabella looked at Jackson, he had a cocky smirk on his face. He was proud with himself, it had taken little to no effort to pull the blonde into the pool with him.
Isabella made a fake pout and hit him in the chest with the back of her hand," Not funny, Jackass. I was gonna get in."
Jackson chuckled to himself, " Didn't look like it."
" Oh shut up." Isabella pushed his chest back, causing him to let go of her body and fall back into the water.
Isabella slaps a hand over her mouth to hide the laugh as Jackson went flying back, splashing his whole face with water.
When Jackson came back up he shook his head in shock and smirked evilly as he wades closer to Isabella. Isabella's eyes widened as she realized that Jackson was going to get her for back for what she did. She starts swimming away in a playful panic, but she didn't move very fast, she kind of wanted him to catch her. She was having fun for the first time in awhile.
Jackson caught up to Isabella and wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her back into him. Jackson pulled one of his arms off of Isabella and put it on her head. He sunk her head into the water and dunked her in.
Isabella came up and splashed him with water as she laughed and spat out water. Jackson watched her happily, he loved seeing her smile. When she had cried in his arms he saw a broken girl, but right now she looked whole and happy. He was glad he could fix her, at least for an hour or two.
Suddenly, the two both got silent and just stood in the water, enjoying their time together. Isabella honestly was super happy that she didn't hate him anymore. She felt like since the movie store incident Jackson had been showing her the real him and she really liked the real Jackson. He was good company.
Jackson locked eyes with Isabella and she smiled sweetly at him. Her smile warmed his mostly arrogant heart.
Jackson smirked as he watched her smile and said, "You know Izzy, I like that smile a whole lot more than your frown. It looks good on you. I haven't seen that smile in awhile. "
" You're probably one of the only ones who actually see it." Isabella said looking down sadly into the chlorine filled pool.
Isabella heard water swish next to her and all of the sudden, Jackson was in front of her and tilting her head up to look at him, " Good. I'm happy I can bring out that smile that everyone loves. I'm not joking when I say that, ask anyone. Everyone loves that smile."
Isabella smiled at him again as he says that which earns one from him too.
Jackson points at her smile and laughs," There it is." Jackson takes his hand off Isabella's chin, but stays in front of her and says, " So are you coming to the game tonight?"
Isabella sighs and shakes her head, " I was thinking no."
Isabella didn't want to go because of Scott. And also a little bit because of Lydia, she was still angry at her. Isabella doubted that Lydia told Jackson what happened, it bugged her. She felt bad for Jackson. She knew Lydia would be there because she was such an supportive girlfriend. Huh, supportive her ass.. more like sucky friend.
Jackson looked at Isabella with disbelief, " You have to. We win tonight, We're in the semi finals. Also, you have to come see your favorite Jackass win the game."
Isabella laughed and look down shaking her head, unsure. She appreciated that Jackson was trying to convince her to go and that he had used her nickname for him, but it just seemed like too much. She didn't want to go.
Jackson sighed and lifted her head again, " It's not because of Scott right?"
Isabella looks at him and nods, " It kind of is. That and other things, but I was thinking it'd be a little weird."
Jackson gave her a confused look and shook his head," He's fine with it. He actually asked me if you were coming. He said he hoped you didn't feel weird about it."
Isabella gave him a weird look and said, " He did?"
Jackson nodded his head, " Yeah. You know he's a good guy. You can't hate him too much." He paused as Isabella rolled her eyes and then he continued talking," I mean it's pretty obvious he's a little too immature to be dating someone like you. But then again...you can't really blame him for trying."
Jackson sends a wink in Isabella's direction. Isabella laughs really hard at his joke and squints her eyes before dunking him under the water and running away before he can come back up. Isabella had gotten far enough away from him and smirks at him when he comes up. When Jackson spots Isabella, he chuckles and shakes his head.
Who knew hanging out with Jackson would turn her whole mood around? Maybe, she would go to that game to cheer on her favorite Jackass. Maybe, it would be fun.
*****
Isabella was not going to the game. Nope definitely not.
Derek had felt bad for leaving her out of the loop last time when he supposedly wasn't dead, so now he was pulling Isabella around on his little mission. The first stop was Stiles' house.
The two Hales were waiting for Stiles' to get home. They were in his bedroom and Isabella thought they looked creepy. Well not really her, more Derek than anything.
Isabella had been looking around Stiles' room for the past 30 minutes. She had been there before, but she always found something cool in his room to look at. Right then, she was looking at his Star Wars movie collection. She loved Star Wars. They really needed to have that marathon she had mentioned.
Isabella suddenly stopped and turned around when she heard Stiles' bedroom door open. Stiles didn't notice her at first as he threw his bag on his bed. As he turned in Isabella's direction, he jumped about five feet in the air as he saw her.
Stiles put his hand over his heart and started breathing heavily as he looked at her, "God! Stop doing that! One day you're gonna kill me woman."
Isabella chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest," Hello to you too, Stiles."
Stiles squinted his eyes at her suspiciously, "What are you even doing here?"
" Well-" Isabella never got to finish her sentence because Stiles' dad interrupted her.
"Hey Stiles!" He shouted from outside the room as he approached the door.
Stiles quickly whipped around to go answer his dad but was stopped in his tracks as he noticed Derek standing in the corner of his room, "Yo, D—Derek. I, um -"
Derek aggressively put his finger to his lips, signaling Stiles to be quiet because of the whole fugitive thing. Isabella simply walked over to Stiles' bed and took a seat on it, grabbing her phone to text Allison while Stiles scrambled to the door to hide Derek.
Sheriff Stilinski reached the door and had a look of confusion on his face, " What did you say?"
" What? I said "Yo - d - dad." Stiles stuttered out nervously as he put his arm out on the open door.
Sheriff Stilinski shook his head before sighing, " Listen, I've got something I've got to take care of, but I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean, your first game."
When the Sheriff said this he got Isabella's full attention. She placed her phone on the bed, completely ignoring it. What did he mean Stiles' first game? It wasn't his first.
Isabella walked over to them and put a hand on her hip while saying, " What do you mean his first game?"
To say Sheriff Stilinski was shocked to see Isabella standing there was an understatement, he looked from Stiles to Isabella and back to Stiles before shaking his head and dropping any assumptions he was making, "Well, my boy here made first line and I'm gonna come watch him play."
He slapped Stiles on the back, Stiles jerked forward and cringed. He had made first line because of injuries, no other reason. He knew he would probably still be stuck on the bench.
It was Isabella's turn to be shocked beyond belief. She looked at Stiles with wide eyes and then slapped him on the head.
Stiles winced and looked at Isabella as if she was crazy," Ow, what was that for?!" He shouted rubbing his head.
" For not telling me you made first line, doofus. I'm so proud." Isabella said faking a cry, " My little Stiles is growing up."
Stiles just scowled and rolled his eyes at Isabella. Sheriff Stilinski smiled at the two teens with glee before saying, " I'm very proud too. Son, I'm happy for you."
" Thanks. Me too. I'm happy and proud - of myself." Stiles said nervously scratching his neck.
" So they're really gonna let you play?" The Sheriff asked in disbelief that he was finally gonna see his son play.
" Yeah, Sheriff. " Isabella said walking over to Stiles and resting her hand on his shoulder, " He's first line. They have to play him."
" I'm very proud." Sheriff says with the biggest smile on his face.
" Oh me too. Again. I'm-" Stiles was interrupted as his dad came forward and hugged him.
Stiles suddenly got really nervous and slowly wrapped his hands around his dad, " Oh, huggie- huggie, huggie." He said as his dad let go off him.
Isabella could smell the anxiety dripping off of Stiles, so she nicely grabbed his hand and squeezed it. This didn't go unnoticed by the Sheriff though because his line of sight went straight to their hands and his eyes went wide. The Sheriff nodded at them and started to back up, pointing behind him.
Isabella's eyes widened and she hoped that he didn't think they were dating. She didn't mean to sound like dating Stiles would be a bad thing because it wouldn't be, but he was too much like her annoying brother to ever think of him like that. The hand holding was completely friendly.
Sheriff nervously coughed out as he retreated, "Well, I'll see you there."
"Take it easy." Stiles said waving at him as he walked away. They both watched the Sheriff walk away, both taking a sigh of relief.
Stiles looked at Isabella with a smile and eyes that said, "Thanks."
Isabella smiled back and nicely let go of his hand. She then walked back into his room to sit on his bed.
Stiles soon followed and shut his door behind him as he came in. As soon as the door shut, Derek started walking towards Stiles who had his back towards Derek.
Derek swiftly grabbed Stiles and turned him around, pinning him to the door and grabbing a handful of his shirt. Isabella could hear Stiles' heartbeat increase as he was slammed against the door and let out a shriek. She couldn't help but feel bad. Derek could be a little aggressive.
"If you say one word." Derek said pointing at Stiles angrily.
" Oh. What. You mean like, 'Hey Dad, Derek Hale is in my room bring your gun?'" Stiles said nervously, but with sass.
Derek's heartbeat increased which was funny to Isabella. She'd never seen him get scared of someone, especially not someone like Stiles.
Derek had a nervous look on his face too and Stiles took this as a sign to become confident and cocky, " Yeah, that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass its my house. My rules, buddy."
Stiles then slapped Derek on the chest. Derek looked at Stiles for a few seconds before nodding his head and nicely yet slowly letting go of Stiles and fixing his jacket for him.
Stiles scoffed in return and fixed Derek's leather jacket, he then started walking to his computer which was a bad mistake. As Stiles was walking, Derek jerked his head towards him causing Stiles to jump and cower, " Oh my god!"
Stiles quickly recovered from the scare and walked over to his computer chair, sitting down in it and letting out a sigh.
Isabella thought it was funny how the simplest of things that Derek did could scare Stiles, it was simply the most entertaining thing.
" So, I know Izzy didn't get the necklace but did Scott?" Derek asked Stiles.
Isabella glared at her father. She had tried. Allison didn't freaking ever take it off and she couldn't just say that she wanted to borrow it because Allison knew Isabella didn't like it that much.
"No, he's still working on it. But there's something else we could try." Stiles answered.
Derek threw his hands out as if asking 'what?'. Stiles sighed and looked to Isabella nervously which she didn't understand and then he continued, "The night we were trapped at the school, Izzy sent a text to Allison asking her to meet her there. "
Derek looked at Isabella with confusion and then back to Stiles," So?"
"So? It wasn't me!" Isabella shouted.
Derek looked at her and his eyes widened. He then turned back to Stiles, " Well can you find out who sent it?"
" No. Not me but I think I know somebody who can." Stiles said mischievously as he smirked to himself.
Isabella's face broke out into confusion and she asked Stiles," Who?"
He smirked at her once again and nodded his head," Danny."
Stiles pointed at Isabella's phone and she got the memo, he wanted her to get Danny here.
Isabella smiled and turned on her phone. She started to dial Danny's number seeing as he was her new lab partner and friend. He was more likely to come for her than for Stiles.
Danny answered after two rings and she smirked as she spoke," Hey Danny Boy, you wanna do that lab work now?"
****
"You want me to do what?" Danny asked Isabella with wide eyes as he stood in the middle of Stiles' room. Isabella was even surprised he came to Stiles' without question. Isabella had just said to meet her at Stiles' house and there he was. It was easier than she had expected.
" Trace a text." Stiles said bluntly for the tenth time swirling around in his computer chair.
" Izzy, I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do." Danny said annoyed.
Isabella walked over to Danny and put her arm around his shoulder," And we will. Once you trace the text. " Isabella said pointing towards the computer.
Danny turned his head to look at Isabella and said with attitude, " What makes you think I know how?"
Stiles then stopped spinning in his chair and looked at Danny as he nervously stuttered out, "I- I looked up your arrest report, so -"
Danny's eyes went wide as he looked between both Isabella and Stiles frantically, " I - I was 13. They dropped the charges."
Isabella nodded her head and then said in a patronizing tone, " They may have dropped the charges Danny but no one forgets."
Danny glares at Isabella and shakes her arm off of his shoulder before shaking his head," No, were doing lab work."
" Oh my.." Stiles said with annoyance as he turned to his computer and Isabella sighed, sitting down next to Danny who was taking a seat next to Stiles.
Danny then looked behind himself before turning back to Stiles and Isabella. He pointed behind himself with his thumb," Who's he again?"
Danny was pointing at Derek who was sitting in a chair reading a book. Isabella could bet he wasn't even paying attention to it. He was just waiting for them to get it over with, so they could do whatever else he has planned for the night.
Stiles turns back too and looks at Derek before turning to Danny, trying to come up with a good lie," Um... my cousin... Miguel."
Isabella couldn't help but let out a laugh, but she soon had to cover her mouth with her hand, so she didn't want to ruin Stiles' lie. Isabella couldn't herself help from looking at her father as she raised her eyebrows jokingly at him. He shook his head angrily at Isabella and looked back down to the book.
" Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny asked with a disgusted face.
Isabella slapped her hand onto her head. Could he not change his damn shirt? He's was such an idiot.
Stiles whipped his head around to look at Derek frantically and says, " Yeah, Yes. He gets these horrible nosebleeds."
Isabella liked where Stiles was going with this. She wanted to have some fun with this too, so she turned to Derek and smirked at him before saying," Hey Miguel, I thought Stiles said you could borrow one of his shirts. "
Derek glares at his daughter before aggressively slamming the book shut and throwing it on Stiles' bed as got up and walked to Stiles' dresser. He immediately pulled off his shirt.
Isabella didn't even look back at Danny and Stiles because she wanted to watch her dad struggle. Isabella knew none of Stiles' shirts would fit him, Stiles was too little. Derek was funny when he was frustrated, well at least she thought he was. Isabella was enjoying this as she watched him pull out a shirt and immediately turn around with an angry face.
"Stiles?" He said annoyed.
Stiles turned around along with Danny who Isabella could tell was eyeballing her dad. Isabella knew Danny was gay and that he would love to see this. It made this all a whole lot better for her to watch his suffering.
" Yeah?" Stiles questioned.
" This." Derek said holding up the shirt and stretching it, "No fit."
" Then try something else on." Stiles seethed through his teeth.
Danny hadn't taken his eyes off Derek and Isabella could tell her father was uncomfortable, she thought it was really funny.
Stiles picked up on it too and smirked at Isabella as she walked over to Danny and put her hand on his shoulder. She tilted her head towards Derek who was putting on a blue and orange striped shirt, "Hey, that one looks pretty good. Huh? What do you think, Danny Boy?"
" Huh?" Danny said nervously, trying to hide the fact that he was previously staring.
" The shirt." Stiles said pointing with his thumb towards Derek.
" It's.... it's not really his color." Danny said looking down and away from Derek nervously.
Isabella clapped Danny on the shoulder with her hand that was already there and said," You swing for a different team but you still play ball don't you, Danny Boy?"
" You two are horrible people." Danny said with a glare before turning back to the computer with Stiles.
" I know it keeps us awake at night. That's what you get from partners in crime." Stiles says," Anyway, about that text."
" Stiles!" Derek shouts making the teens all look at him again.
Derek was holding two shirts up and had an angry expression, " None of these fit!"
Danny and Stiles both turned around to the computer without answering him. Derek then turns his attention to Isabella, looking at her with a deathly stare. Isabella just shrugs her shoulders and smirks at him before turning around to Danny and Stiles.
Danny sighs and reaches towards the computer ," I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text."
" Yes that a boy Danny" Isabella says as she slaps both of her hands down on his shoulders excitedly. Finally something was gonna going their way, for the first time in awhile.
*****
Isabella has just gotten back upstairs from getting some water while Danny traced the text and he was finally done. All three teens gathered around Danny and the computer.
" There. The text was sent from a computer. This one." Danny said pointing to something on the computer.
What Isabella saw shocked her. She didn't understand how the the text had been sent from that person and why they had done it. Something else had to be happening.
" Registered to that account name?" Derek asked as he walked over and leaned over the shoulders of the teens with shock.
" No, no, no that can't be right." Stiles said in disbelief.
Isabella really couldn't believe it. Why would Melissa McCall send Allison that text?
How did she know they were going to be there? And why would she send Allison to the school? Nothing added up. Isabella had thought something was gonna go their way, she guessed they just weren't that lucky.